Beer Wine & Spirits

For centuries in colonial and early America, cider—not that unfiltered syrupy apple juice you knew in childhood, but hard cider, fermented from bitter apples—was the dominant adult beverage, more popular than beer or wine. But starting in the late 19th century—thanks first to beer-loving German immigrants, then Prohibition—cider abruptly fell from grace.

Did you know that when West Oakland’s Linden Street Brewery opened back in 2009, that it was the first production brewery to open in Oakland in 40 years? Five years later, that little fun fact is even harder to believe, given the explosion of activity in the city’s beer-making scene. Here are the newest players in Oakland’s burgeoning brewing renaissance.